I. Field
This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119 of Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/867,429, filed Nov. 28, 2006, said provisional application is incorporated herein by reference.
II. Background
Wireless communication networks are widely deployed to provide various communication services such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, etc. These wireless networks may be multiple-access networks capable of supporting multiple users by sharing the available network resources. Examples of such multiple-access networks include Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) networks, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) networks, Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) networks, Orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA) networks, etc.
A user may utilize an access terminal (e.g., a cellular phone) to obtain one or more communication services (e.g., voice, data connectivity, etc.) from a wireless network. The access terminal may establish a radio connection with the wireless network and may be allocated radio and other resources for the radio connection. The access terminal may thereafter exchange data with the wireless network via the radio connection to obtain the communication service(s).
For each service, data may be exchanged at regular intervals or at sporadic times. For example, a voice call may exchange data periodically every 20 milliseconds (ms) or some other interval. A packet data call may exchange data sporadically whenever there is data to send. It is desirable to close the radio connection as soon as all of the service(s) have ended. This would then free up the valuable resources allocated for the radio connection so that the resources may be used for another access terminal. However, determining whether the service(s) have ended may be challenging, e.g., if multiple services are obtained and/or if data is sent sporadically.
There is therefore a need in the art for techniques to efficiently detect for end of service so that the radio connection may be closed as soon as possible.